Meditating India: from malls to prisons

One must have noticed the Inorbit mall terrace being jam-packed in the last couple of weekends, when an unusual sight of a large group of customers were seen enjoying a relaxing meditation.

This was one of the meditation sessions organised across AP last month as part of the "Meditate India" initiative by the Art of Living foundation, an NGO founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ‘Meditate India’ is a campaign aimed at helping people experience meditation and incorporate it in their lifestyle. The campaign was launched on May13 on the birthday Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and hundreds of free sessions were organised across AP, at government offices, banks, companies, apartments, slums, temples and parks over the last three weeks.

The campaign was not restricted to Malls and IT firms but was also conducted in prisons. A session was conducted for prison inmates on May13, 2012. Kinnera Sastry, an Art of Living instructor who was part of the team who facilitated the session said "I have heard Sri Sri Ravi Shankar say, inside every criminal, there is a victim crying for help. I really experienced this today. It was incredibly moving to see the transformation in the inmates in the space of a few hours."

Most well known companies of Hyderabad like Wipro, Cognizant, AT&T, HSBC, Hinduja Global, Airtel were lured to catch up with an ancient Indian practice and know this simple technique of relaxation. "I am so happy to have the opportunity to meditate in my office itself. The session was really inspiring and I feel it is essential for all those in the fast-paced software industry to learn to meditate

Thanks to the positive response, some of the organisations have also requested for more regular meditation sessions in their premises for employees,” says Nimish Imamdar, a software professional at Cognizant.